The present invention relates generally to “round balers” which form cylindrical bales of crop material, and more particularly, to a reclamation device that is mounted below the bale forming chamber to recover leaves and short stems that have been torn from the crop being baled, and which drops through gaps or openings, to return such high nutrient components to be recycled into the baled material.
Round balers are widely used at the present time, and, generally utilize a series of belts that accept a swath or windrow of hay crop from a pick up and in feed roller or drum feed system. The hay is fed into the baler chamber, and as a bale starts to form in the inlet throat of the baler, that is, between a starter roller and a support drum, the belts or rollers will tend to tear off leaves and short stems in high quality hay crops such as alfalfa. The leaves and stems that are torn off will fall between the openings in the series of side by side belts used commonly for forming the round bale, or other gaps and thus will be lost.
It is well known that the leaves, in particular, are high in the digestive nutrients in a hay crop such as alfalfa, and so loss of such high quality components is detrimental.
The reclamation device is designed primarily for use with a round baler that utilizes a series of bale forming belts that are positioned side by side and that have spaces between the side by side belts, particularly in the region where hay is being fed into the bale chamber.
Prior art round balers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,899,651; 4,870,812; 5,444,969; and 6,098,391. A round baler which uses rolls for forming the bales is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,237.